2027 Competition
MI + ON · A binational competition

Michigan Collegiate Startup Challenge

The collegiate business model competition for Michigan. Build it, pitch it, and walk out with the money to keep going.
Thursday, February 25, 2027
LSSU Arts Center
Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
Apply to pitchCommit a Showcase table
Applications open November 13.
Competition day in

01

Days

21

hrs

30

min

30

sec

Two competitions, one day, two prize pools: the Showcase on the floor and the Grand Startup Challenge on stage.
Student teams holding prize checks at the 2026 Michigan Collegiate Startup Challenge
MCSC 2026 winner
Competition day
Feb 25, 2027
Thursday
Where
LSSU Arts Center
Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Who can enter
MI + ON
Binational: Michigan and Ontario
Prize pool
$12,500
In major prizes, more to come
Deadlines
Jan 8 + Feb 1
Grand Startup, then Showcase
Two competitions, two prize pools

Everyone takes the floor. Ten take the stage.

One application, two competitions. The Elevator Pitch + Showcase is where every registered team competes. The Grand Startup Challenge is the opt-in on top of it, and only ten teams get there.
Everyone
01

Elevator Pitch + Showcase

$500 per team table
Chosen by your school. No video, no qualifying round.
Your own table on the floor, your product in front of a roving panel of judges, and a prize pool of its own. Judged entirely on the day.
  • Your institution picks the teams, so nothing to qualify for
  • One table per team, no sharing, $500 each
  • No pitch video required if the Showcase is all you are entering
  • Applications close February 1
Ask your school to register
The top ten
02

Grand Startup Challenge

Free to enter
Opt in with a pitch video. Judges pick ten.
Submit an executive summary and a video pitch. Three external judges score every entry, and the ten highest take the LSSU stage for three minutes plus two minutes of questions.
  • Your school must be registered for the Showcase first
  • No cap on how many teams a school may enter
  • Teams can mix students from different schools
  • Entries close January 8, top ten notified January 29
Start an application
The Showcase is the front door: your school registers for the Showcase, and that is what makes its teams eligible for the Grand Startup Challenge top ten. Showcase only is a perfectly good answer.
Prizes

The 2027 purse is set.

Two prize pools, one day. We will announce additional prizes (cash and in-kind) as we move through the application process.
2027 major prizes
$12,500
$8,000 in the Grand Startup Challenge and $4,500 in the Showcase, with more prizes to be announced.

Grand Startup Challenge major prizes

  • 1st
    $3,000
  • 2nd
    $2,500
  • 3rd
    $1,500
  • 4th
    $1,000

Showcase major prizes

  • $1,500
    Each of the top three Showcase teams
How it works

Two rounds. One day that matters.

01

Qualifying round

November 13 to January 8 · Online
Optional · Grand Startup Challenge entrants
Only for teams going after the Grand Startup Challenge. An executive summary and a video pitch, scored by three external reviewers. The ten highest-ranked teams are notified January 29. Entering the Showcase alone? Skip this entirely.
02

Competition day

Thursday, February 25, 2027
In person · Sault Ste. Marie
Both competitions run in one day at the LSSU Arts Center, each with its own prize pool: the Elevator Pitch + Showcase on the floor and the Grand Startup Challenge on stage. One award ceremony closes it out.
Key dates
  1. Nov 13
    2026
    Applications open
  2. Jan 8
    2027
    Grand Startup Challenge deadline
  3. Jan 29
    2027
    Top ten notified
  4. Feb 1
    2027
    Showcase deadline
  5. Feb 1-12
    2027
    Virtual workshops
  6. Feb 25
    2027
    Competition day + awards
Eligibility

New for 2027: the field just got wider.

It goes binational

Teams from our Ontario partner institutions compete with no U.S. team member required. MI and ON, one competition.

Community colleges are in

Michigan community college students compete on the same footing as four-year institutions.

More ways to win

New category awards alongside the top prizes: Audience Choice, Best Demo, Most Innovative, Best Presentation.

Workshops before you pitch

Virtual workshops run February 1 to 12, free to every registered team, so nobody walks in cold.

You qualify if

  • Students own more than 50% of the company or idea, and play a major role in it
  • An independent venture at the ideation or very early growth stage
  • Dual-enrollment, undergraduate, or graduate students enrolled in 2026-27
  • Teams of up to 5, from one school or several
  • Any industry
  • Graduating in December 2026? Still eligible

Watch the limits

  • Total sales, investment, grants, and past competition winnings must stay under $50,000
  • Top-three winners from a past MCSC cannot re-enter the same idea, but may enter a new one
  • International students outside Ontario need at least one U.S. team member
MI + ON · The host city

Two Saults. Two countries. One competition.

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario share a name, a river, and a bridge. That is the whole idea behind MI + ON: one competition, both sides of it.
MI
ON
Michigan meets Ontario
February 25, 2027
Yes, it's a real border town
The International Bridge is a ten-minute drive from the Arts Center. Bring a passport if you want lunch in another country between rounds.
Yes, it's February in the EUP
Roughly five hours from Grand Rapids or Detroit, across the Mackinac Bridge, into the one part of Michigan most of your classmates have never seen. Worth the drive on its own.
Yes, it's worth the resume line
"Finalist, binational collegiate business model competition" reads a lot better than anything you did over spring break.
For colleges and universities

One table. Your whole campus is in.

MCSC runs on participating institutions. Commit a single Showcase team and every student at your school becomes eligible for both competitions.
Register your institution
$500
Per Showcase
team table
The only required fee. Bring as many teams as you like, and tell us early if any of them need power at the table.

Register for the Showcase

At least one table at $500 is the front door. It makes your teams eligible for the Showcase floor and for the Grand Startup Challenge top ten.

Showcase only is fine

Plenty of schools send teams to the Showcase and stop there. The Grand Startup Challenge is an opt-in, not an obligation.

Pick your own teams

You decide who represents you on the floor. Those teams skip the qualifying round and the pitch video entirely.

Nominate a judge

Each participating institution may put forward one judge for the panel.

Get your name out

Your logo and name run in the event program, marketing, pre-event publicity, and this website, and you are acknowledged from the stage.
2026 in review

Record participation, and that was before Ontario.

48
Applications
70+
Student founders
11
Colleges and universities
$12,000
Awarded in prizes
Student teams holding prize checks at the 2026 Michigan Collegiate Startup Challenge
Questions

The ones we get every year.

Cold enough that you will tell the story for years. The Arts Center is heated, the Showcase floor is hotter, and by the time the judges reach your table the outside temperature stops being a factor. Pack a coat anyway.
Only for the Grand Startup Challenge. If the Elevator Pitch + Showcase is all you are entering, there is no video and no qualifying round. Your school picks you, you show up, and you are judged on the day.
Yes. MCSC 2027 is binational, so teams from our Ontario partner institutions compete with no U.S. team member required. It also means everyone in the room gets to call this an international competition, because it is.
No. The ten teams that pitch on stage are set on January 29, purely from the qualifying round scores. Nobody gets pulled up from the floor on the day.
$500 per Showcase team table. That is the only required fee, and registering for the Showcase is what makes your teams eligible for the Grand Startup Challenge.
About five hours from Grand Rapids or Detroit, and you cross the Mackinac Bridge to get here. Everyone who makes the drive says the same thing on the way home, which is that they should have come up sooner.
Whatever sells the idea: banners, samples, business cards, flyers, a laptop running a demo. Bring your own screens and printed material, and tell us in advance if you need power. Booth dimensions and table coverings will be confirmed before the event.
If you placed in the top three, not with the same idea, but you are welcome with a new one. Everyone else can re-submit.